MEETING MY DESIGNER!

The fundamental of this project is being paired up with a 2nd Year Fashion Design student at NTU, and bringing their innovative designs to life through brand strategies. Assuming my role as an agency, and the designer being my client, really excites me.

Today, 2 days after the module briefing, I met my designer, Evie Fort. Before this meeting, I ensured I had a range of questions that I could ask my designer, from her design ethos to her inspirations, to ensure I had a good foundation to begin the project. I was initially nervous about this process, not only meeting someone new for the first time over an unusual virtual setting, but also thinking, ‘What if I don’t like her ideas or concept?’, 'What if we don't get on or can't communicate effectively?'. Fortunately, it was such an enjoyable and informal process, and we really clicked on a personal level.

Regarding Evie’s ideas, I was immediately intrigued and excited by them, and I can’t wait for her to delve deeper into her design process, to inspire my branding concepts. This collection/project of Evie’s is called ‘Plastic Ocean’, and it is about the affects of plastic pollution and things like that on marine life. As a starting point, she has been looking into using sustainable materials and working with materials such as plastic bags. My first reaction was that I love this concept and is something that I personally have an interest in or want to better understand.

The conversation flowed and I continued to ask Evie a multitude of questions that would help me going forward. A few key points to take away were:

• She is driven by sustainability. She designs for a lifestyle, a one-off purchase to never be thrown away.

• She envisions her garments being designed for runway drops rather than collections, that are statement and emotive; more like artwork.

• Fabric manipulation such as shirring and material cut outs to show skin will be key features.

Evie didn’t have much of an understanding of who her target audience might be, as well as her USP/competitive advantage. This worried me slightly as I was hoping she would be confident with those answers, but it is key for me to understand that this is a process for both of us, and these things will come in time as we continue to progress through the project together. Overall though, this initial meeting was a real success. In just 20 minutes, Evie was able to provide me with some valuable insights that I look forward to taking further and excelling in this project. She has already sent me through some sketches and her statement of intent, which I am excited to analyse and unpick, and we have already arranged our next meeting for Wednesday where we will discuss further!

THE START OF A NEW MODULE!

Today was the day that half of the 2nd Year Fashion Marketing and Branding cohort embarked on a new module; Brand Promotion and Development.

The option to go on a 9 week placement in Year 2 played a huge part in my decision process to study FMB at Nottingham Trent University. I was adamant that I would take this opportunity. All of a sudden I found myself half way through my degree, being told about this placement option. A few months ago, I was taking a very active approach and getting in touch with a handful of companies that I thought would be amazing to gain some work experience with. To my delight, I was able to secure a 9 week placement with a PR agency in Nottingham. To ensure I was fit and ready for the official role to commence in March, they fortunately gave me some remote work experience over Christmas, which I completed and loved. January came around, and I was curious to read into the other optional module, Brand Development and Promotion, to see what it was about (which one would complete if they do not take the placement option). As much as I enjoyed that short work experience and gained some invaluable skills, I knew that I didn't want to miss out on this exciting module to enhance my branding knowledge, and so I took the decision upon myself to decline the 9 week placement.

Since studying FMB at university, I have discovered that I love the concept of brand identity. From colour palettes and logos, to brand missions and visions, I love understanding how brands become like a person, and effectively and creatively communicate a their personalities and messages through branding. My course lecturers gave my peers and I a 1 hour briefing, and outlined what we are required to complete as part of this module. First impressions; I love the notion of taking the role of an agency, and the Fashion Designer being like my client. I am particularly excited to create a Brand Launch Pack and can’t wait to bring my allocated designer’s brand to life from scratch. However, I am slightly concerned about the visual elements of this project, in particular producing 3x A3 visual boards, as I sometimes worry I lack creative skills. However, I am looking forward to pushing my creativity and embracing being out of my comfort zone.

As I always am at the beginning of a new project, I was quite overwhelmed by what looks like a lot of work, but I am overall really excited to develop even more skills that I will likely put into practice in my future career. A fault of mine whenever I start something new such as a university project, I always want to envision exactly what the final piece will look like and I want to get the ideas straight away. As a pivot point in my reflective journey, I must not get frustrated by this and need to better understand the importance of how it is a progressive journey. It takes time and patience to research and experiment with ideas, and going forward with this project and projects to come in the future, it is important that I understand this and enjoy the process.